Rotheram tests the water for multi-billion pound Mersey Tidal Power scheme

From Manchester – Really hope this goes ahead. A globally significant project would boost the presence of the whole NW

Fantastic. Get it through. Preferable quicker than taking a decade.

Every city in the UK should be working on renewable energy sources of this scale. They should have been doing it for a long time!

A real nonsense that it doesn’t offer any road or rail link, given the long term need to deliver more links, life expiry of tunnels and so on.

Are there multiple options as to where this would be sited in the estuary? Or are the focusing on a specific identified location? Nothing seems to really say exactly where this would be?

Simply not going to happen. Depth of channel and speed of tides represent huge engineering challenges and costs – with obvious likelihood of massive cost over-runs. Then there are all manner of logistical considerations regarding the port activities in the upper reaches of the river.
And who is going to fund this? Rather than chasing rainbows, why isn’t more focus put on attracting major occupiers to the region and providing them with the office stock they will need?

Open stream system which are basically turbines that use the today flow can each as much as a barrier with a quicker start and without the damage to the Mersey’s RAMSAR sites. Building lagoons further out to sea is also possible. As with his desire for a gold-plated and diamond studded NPR Steve’s desires for Grandes Opérations is his guide, rather than the more mundane and practical.

100 years just to get to the planning stage. In principal a fantastic idea. In practice a none starter. Developer confidence in Liverpool Council is poor to say the least. How will LCC fund this gargantuan infrastructure project. Another fanciful idea that will sadly not come to fruition. Apologies Mr Rotherham, your delusional.

Simple question for Steve, is where would the barrage be placed given the Mersey is a busy water highway?

Great opportunity for consultants to milk for years without building anything.

This will affect the Port of Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal , so has Rotheram actually thought this through as Liverpool’s port is it’s lifeblood. Why does it need an ugly concrete barrage for walkers and cyclists, and as it will need some kind of Bascule type bridge to let shipping through how many times per day will it be lifted. A lot of the bigger container ships are 32 metres wide and more . Surely they can sink turbines into the riverbed and still produce energy without ruining the Mersey Estuary forever.

@Anonymous 1:46pm has it nailed, and I must admit a tinge of envy at the lucky consultants on this fairy story gravy train.

This old chestnut

Utter fanciful nonsense , another smokescreen to avoid being challenged on producing projects that are required and achievable. Honestly Mr Rotherham what about the extortionate cost of local transport , has anyone had to travel via train to Manchester ? 1960 diesel trains and a return journey of £20 per day . Focus on stuff that matters not pie in the sky .

The principal of this is fantastic….. but Liverpool has investigated tidal power generation since the 1980’s, this is not a new idea, but the devil is in the detail to find a solution that is affordable, doesn’t impact the shipping traffic or the biodiversity habitats all along the mud flats of the Mersey. I think the image portrays a new link from the Wirral to Liverpool, this I think has many issues with the above, including what would it mean for Liverpool’s highest paid visitor attraction the Mersey ferry? I think a lagoon solution is the right approach here and Swansea were very close to getting this over the line as a commercial proposition not that long ago….

I believe that Mayor Rotheram is living in fantasy land if he really thinks that this is going to happen. Any talk of of such a barrage will surely block any interest by developers in developing the garden festival site which must surely be very close by one end of the proposed tidal barrage. The only that might come in the garden festival site would be from the contractors working on the barrage who would need a materials handling and storage site. Oh and what about any concerns from people who own homes on or around Riverside Drive via which the site(s) would be accessed? I imagine they will be just ignored and brushed under the carpet! Upstream of the Tranmere oil terminal the River Mersey is still very much a commercial waterway not just to the Manchester ship canal but to the port of Garston too and this should not be forgotten. I am totally sure that there will be many people gaining work from from this idea…….by writing more and more reports and carrying out more and more consultations which will probably lead to nothing happening!

If this is ever built which I highly doubt taxpayers would be asked to pay a fair chuck of it. Would it lower our household bills? Of course it wouldn’t. Gas and electricity prices would still go up. Pie in the sky idea with no benefit to anyone really

This sounds a good like and should be central government funded given recent emphasis on green sources of energy. I do think that some type of public transport should be factored into the design.

Wow, not sure why a consultation is being opened that involves LCR funds being used. Doesn’t the Mayor know that all of the levels of expertise and answers he needs are on this thread. He will be kicking himself if he read it and discovers that the tidal barrier he is proposing would be built on a river with fast and a vastly diverse tidal range. Imagine how stupid he will feel when this thread makes him realise that Liverpool is a port and the river has ships using it? Hopefully he will read this and decrease his level of ambition for the city region and the environment. I mean who would even want a World leading piece of civil engineering, that provides sustainable and cheap energy for the city region? I wish the comments section of placenorthwest.co.uk would have been around to stop the construction of other similarly undeliverable civil engineering projects like the Mersey railway, the 2 road tunnels, the original wet dock, Oriel chambers, St George’s Hall, the deep cuttings into Lime street Station, the Liver building, the miles of docks, the cathedrals, the heroic corporation housing by Lancelot Keay, Brodies pre fab Eldon st flats etc. Does Steve not realise that the best option should always be stagnate not innovate?

Some homework for Boris Rotherham. Search ‘Boris’, ‘Island’ ‘Bridge’ and then ‘Garden Bridge’. Forget the vanity announcements and pretty pictures at Party conferences and focus on what you can actually deliver now to make the lives of the people of Liverpool better.

Wow, not sure why a consultation is being opened that involves LCR funds being used. Doesn’t the Mayor know that all of the levels of expertise and answers he needs are on this thread. He will be kicking himself if he read it and discovers that the tidal barrier he is proposing would be built on a river with fast and a vastly diverse tidal range. Imagine how stupid he will feel when this thread makes him realise that Liverpool is a port and the river has ships using it? Hopefully he will read this and decrease his level of ambition for the city region and the environment. I mean who would even want a World leading piece of civil engineering, that provides sustainable and cheap energy for the city region? I wish the comments section of placenorthwest.co.uk would have been around to stop the construction of other similarly undeliverable civil engineering projects like the Mersey railway, the 2 road tunnels, the original wet dock, Oriel chambers, St George’s Hall, the deep cuttings into Lime street Station, the Liver building, the miles of docks, the cathedrals, the heroic corporation housing by Lancelot Keay, Brodies pre fab Eldon st flats etc. Does Steve not realise that the best option should always be stagnate not innovate?
Love this so i thought I would re post. I live in liverpool its got so much potential but most Liverpudlians seam to enjoy being the under dogs. They’re nimbies or just permanently negative.

A pedestrian link between Liverpool and Birkenhead would be transformative. Remember that none of the previous attempts at this scheme got anywhere near this far, so hopefully it’ll work out.

What gets me about Liverpool they whinge on about height restrictions and everything is scaled right down what makes you think this will even get off the ground lol

You can’t even build a skyscraper get real

Why waste £28m on a new ferry when in a few years time you can walk, cycle, e-bike, or e-scooter across the Mersey.
We already have a rail tunnel and 2 road tunnel so is a future ferry service really needed?

Exactly where are the beginning and end of the bridge to be situated?
How will shipping get through the barrier?

lets go for it